National ITMX Co, a provider of switching system services, plans to launch a new switching system for electronic debit card payments to widen alternatives as the national e-payment system's electronic data capture (EDC) pool nears fruition.
The new switching system will be an alternative for debit card issuers, said Siam Commercial Bank's (SCB) chief strategy officer Arak Sutivong, who is also a board member of ITMX.
The new system, unofficially known as PromptCard, will be the payment system for debit cards, while ITMX is expected to be the switching system's service provider.
ITMX and Thai Payment Network are the local switching service providers for debit cards.
Under the Finance Ministry's time frame for the national e-payment scheme, the EDC pool auction result will be announced this month.
The Finance Ministry aims for 550,000 new EDC terminals to be installed across the country by March 2018. The first phase of EDC installation is scheduled to begin in March.
There are two consortiums joining the bidding to install EDC machines. The first one comprises Bangkok Bank and Kasikornbank (KBank) and the other camp consists of five commercial banks -- Krungthai Bank, SCB, Bank of Ayudhya, Thanachart Bank and TMB Bank.
Even though there are two consortiums in the EDC bidding pool, it is expected that both will be permitted to install the EDC terminals as they offer the same merchant fee -- 0.55% of transaction value -- and the government wants the installation to be done rapidly.
Mr Arak said the EDC installation under the EDC pool scheme will be done on a first-come-first-serve basis.
In addition to the EDC pool, he said the banking industry should collaborate on a bill payment system service to boost convenience for consumers and slash operating costs for the overall industry.
"The banking sector is a large payment service provider, but it shares around 20-25% of total bill payment volume," said Mr Arak.
"Convenience stores now dominate the largest market share."
Meanwhile, Teeranun Srihong, president at KBank and chairman of Kasikorn Business Technology Group, said local banks would cooperate in database systems with blockchain technology.